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Sweet Notes Early Fall 1998 Page 4
FACTORY AUTHORIZED! WE FIX YOUR GEAR RIGHT AND ON TIME WITH NO EXCUSES!
— Continued from Page 3
drum track, a dedicated bass track, and an external source track for triggering external
MIDI gear plus a variety of real time controls including tap tempo.
CAKEWALK. In collaboration with Roland and Fender, Cakewalk plans to participate in
products enabling guitarists to be more creative and productive in recording and live per-
formance. The first solution from the alliance is the combination of three distinct products
optimized to work together: Cakewalk Guitar Studio digital audio and MIDI recording soft-
ware, the Roland GR-30 Guitar Synthesizer and the Fender Roland-Ready Stratocaster.
Guitarists can record and play eight tracks of CD-quality digital audio in tight synchroniza-
tion with MIDI. Tracks can be edited and mixed in a familiar environment because the user
interface is designed specifically for guitarists. It features a Vir-
tual Fretboard for the display and input of melodies and chords.
Players are able to capture ideas quickly by using the rhythm
patterns provided. There are also specialized utilities including a
guitar tuner, MIDI Guitar setup, and guitar effects including cho-
rus, reverb, EQ, flange and delay.
DDRUM was showing a new expanded drum kit called Ddrum
System One ($4595), which is based on the Ddrum 4 technol-
ogy. It adds three Ddrum cymbals and a hi-hat to their System Two
kit ($3795). Since you use your own stand for the hi-hat it feels like
real hats with sounds for open, foot, and closed pedal positions.
DIGITECH. Expanding on their success with the S-100, Digitech
showed the new S-200 processor ($339). It has 20-bit I/O in a
two in/two out configuration (the channels can be separated),
plus a more comprehensive and easier to use display than the S-
100. The Vocalist Access ($469) packs the harmonic punch of
the Vocalist Workstation into a 1-space rack mount package. The
user interface is made more friendly by a new edit knob: push it
in to edit, then push it in more to release the edit mode and it
pops back out. The Talker ($299) may be their most innovative
product at the show. Housed in a simple (but cool looking) floor
stomp box, it gives a guitarist (or anyone else!) access to all
kinds of talking effects made popular in the 1970s.
EMAGIC. Their big news is that they are finally shipping all of
their software packages announced at the January NAMM Show
(see our Winter NAMM ’98 report). They have also announced
VST support. Even bigger news is that they are going to be sup-
porting Roland VS-series products. They had a Mac up and run-
ning in the Roland booth doing graphic editing on the new VS-880EX.
EVENT announced that all of their computer recording plat-
forms (Gina, Darla, Layla) are shipping. They were showing Layla
running on a Mac, but they say it will still be Fall before it is
available that way.They showed a new microphone, the Rode
Broadcaster, a large diaphragm condenser mic that is mounted
to a clip so it can be boomed in to a broadcast person with ease.
G&L had several new models at the show all featuring Leo
Fender’s “Z-Coil” design, based upon his earlier split coil
humbucking pickups. Unlike stacked humbuckers, these pick-
ups offer a true single coil sound, but are hum free. New guitars
include the Comanche, which employs the G&L Dual Fulcrum
tremolo system, the ASAT Z3, which has their patented Saddle Lock fixed bridge, and the
ASAT Z3 Semi-Hollow, which has twin voice chambers contributing to a scooped midrange.
JBL had their full range of new LSR products working and sounding great. Their newest
system consists of the LSR28P bi-amped monitor system with LSR12P powered sub. The
compact system should go for around $2000 and, from what I heard, is worth every penny.
KAWAI showed a fully working version of their new MP9000 piano and controller ($2195).
The keybed assembly in this unit is a whole new design that employs real hammers at the
back of the key for a more realistic feel. It has fantastic piano sounds, which were modeled
with a new process they are calling “Harmonic Imaging” — a modeled technology that is
continuously variable based on your playing velocity.
KORG. The new Trinity V3 is the marriage of the famed Trinity and Z series keyboards
into one incredible instrument with 38-note polyphony and 100 effects. There will be a new
option that will combine the PBSTri and SCSITri into one package bundled with sample CDs
that include performances from the likes of Steve Gadd and James Brown. Availability of
the keyboard is late September. The N1R ($850) packs the punch of the N1 and N5 key-
boards into a single rack space. There are 563 multisamples and 304 drum samples stored
in 18 MB of wave ROM. Interestingly, the LCD display can be switched from amber to green.
LEXICON. Further solidifying their position as a premier guitar effects developer Lexi-
con introduced the MPX-G2 processor. It works with any amp using two separate sets of
inputs and outputs allowing guitarists to place effects anywhere in the signal chain for
optimal performance. They were showing their System 12P audio recording hardware
($2999) working with Steinberg's VST and their 284 Signature amp ($1099 — also see
Page 9 for more) was in use in many of the high end guitar booths.
LINE 6. POD is their Flextone on a table ($399). This kidney-shaped unit has all of the
front end features of their highly acclaimed Flextone amp (see Page 7 for more).
MACKIE. The buzz of the last few NAMM and AES shows (and this one) is still the
Mackie Digital 8•Bus Console ($9999). They do have product
on the assembly line and they should be arriving as you read
this. Some minor features have changed a little bit since the last
time we wrote about it, but the thing still does look incredible
with 56 inputs, 72 channels, 48 channels with EQ, compression
and gate simultaneously, hardware DPS card expandability, soft-
ware plug in capability on generic DSP cards, SVGA display
output port, Apogee UV22 process on tape and main outputs,
integrated 3-way meter bridge, motorized faders, 5.1 and 7.1
surround capability and tons more which we’ll cover in detail
next issue. As with most products of this nature, these boards
are going to be extremely hard to get for a while, but due to our
great relationship with Mackie, we are at the top of the list for
receiving product. Get your orders in now.
MARTIN. Heading up the “I wish I could afford one” cat-
egory was the Steven Stills model. They're only making 91 and
they tumble in at a price of only $19,310! Oh, but what a beau-
tiful instrument it is. They also showed a Don McLain model
($5750), a Lester Flatt model ($8500), and a Willie Nelson
model. They did not, however, reproduce the hole he has in the
front of his. The East Indian Rosewood version is $5500, and
the Brazilian Rosewood one is $9800. There were also three
Johnny Cash models (priced between $3950 and $8200) and
the “lowly” Eric Clapton model at a mere $3500. In the more
affordable range they showed a new cutaway guitar designed
for women available in three different woods ($1900 to $2300),
a new JC-1 jumbo cutaway laminate with built in Fishman pickup
($1499), and a new thin body acoustic (00CME) ($1399).
MIDIMAN never fails to amaze me (and I'm terribly difficult
to amaze these days). This year they introduced SAM, a S/PDIF
ADAT mixer and format converter ($399.95). Weighing in at just
one pound, SAM's main function is to be an ADAT to S/PDIF
(and vice versa) converter. It just happens to be able to mix
eight ADAT tracks to one S/PDIF output with 56-bit internal pro-
cessing and it can lock to sample rates from 39 to 51 kHz. To
complement SAM, they have also introduced Pipeline 8 x 8
($899.95), an 8-channel A to D and D to A 24-bit converter box
with ADAT compatible light pipe I/O. It can also work on a vari-
ety of other systems which support the light pipe interface.
NORD. Clavia was showing off the new Nord Micro Modu-
lar synthesizer. At $895 everyone can now afford to get into the power of modular synthe-
sis. It comes with and uses the same software as its big Modular brother, but has a smaller
hardware package with four realtime controller knobs (instead of the 18 on the Modular).
OPCODE. After being purchased by Gibson a short time ago these guys are as enthusi-
astic as I've ever seen them. Announcements at the show include Vision DSP ($495),
which will replace Vision Deluxe, with support for Steinberg's VST architecture and full
ASIO hardware compliance. DATport has a USB port on one side and a pair of S/PDIF ports on
the other. Plug it into the USB port on your PC and it's ready to go. No messing with drivers (it
doesn't even come with a disk), DMAs, IRQs, etc. Available in September for under $200.
PRESONUS displayed their M80, 8-channel class A microphone preamp system
($1899.95), an ideal front end for Paris or Pro Tools users. They have set it up so each
channel can easily receive mic or line level signals on TRS or XLR connectors. To top it off
they smartly made a mix buss with XLR outputs and a high output headphone jack with
level control. Each channel includes phantom power, phase reverse, -20 dB pad, low cut
filter, and a unique IDSS harmonic distortion control. They’re in stock now.
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SUMMER NAMM REPORT
The Korg Booth showed the new Trinity V3, while
drummers checked out Roland’s V-Drums (bottom)